Design For Humanity Brings a Stellar Lineup to LA

Event features three of my favorite new acts

Amongst the slew of summer tours and festivals making the international circuit right now, Billabong’s Design For Humanity might have flown under your musical radar, but it shouldn’t. This one-night-only event is Billabong’s charitable initiative combining retailers, athletes, celebrities, artists, and music fans, and my excitement for the line-up they’ve put together cannot be overstated.

Welsh rock trio The Joy Formidable is headlining the event, but it’s the three bands providing support that I can’t wait to see share the Design For Humanity stage (actually the event will feature three concert stages set among the legendary NYC Backlot facades at the Paramount Studios in Hollywood, but you get what I’m saying).

Then we’ve got The Lumineers. The trio’s single “Ho Hey” is absolutely infectious and nearly impossible to sing along to without smiling.

And finally, Imagine Dragons. Up until about 30 minutes ago, I had no idea who this Las Vegas-based band was, but after checking out the following live video of the group performing “It’s Time,” Design for Humanity has changed from an “I’d like to attend” event to an “I MUST attend” event.

Imagine Dragons’ first album, Night Visions, is scheduled to drop in September, and if ever a band was poised to blow up after releasing their debut, Imagine Dragons is that band. In keeping with the recent trend of rock/pop acts utilizing dance and hip-hop producers — fun. did it with Some Nights (Jeff Bhasker – Beyoncé, Kanye West), Vacationer with Gone (Matt Young – Body Language) — Imagine Dragons has Grammy Award-winning producer Alex da Kid (Eminem, Nicki Minaj) at the helm of Night Visions, and I can’t wait to see what they deliver in September.